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Welcome to Firewall
Greetings, Your references and background have been triple-checked and confirmed, and you are now vetted as a sentinel operative. Welcome to Firewall, friend. For those new to our private network, Firewall is an organization dedicated to protecting transhumanity from threats - both internal and external — to our continued existence as a species. The Fall may have reminded us that our ability to survive and prosper is not guaranteed, but our kind has a remarkably short attention span. Despite our achievement of functional near-immortality, we continue to face numerous dangers that may contribute to our extinction. Some of these risks come from our own factionalism and divisiveness, combined with universally available technology that could cause widespread destruction and untold deaths in the wrong hands. Some stem from our short-sightedness, failing to see the dangers in which we place ourselves and our environments through careless actions. Some arise from our own creations turned against us, as the TITANs proved. Other risks may come from alien intelligences whose motivations we cannot yet fathom, and of whom we may not even be aware. Still others may threaten us by sheer chance and the mindless but deadly cause-and-effect of a universe in which we are but an insignificant speck. Firewall exists to identify, analyze, and counter these risks. We are all volunteers. We are all placing our own lives at risk in order to ensure the survival of transhumanity. Firewall has existed, under other names and guises, since before the Fall. Numerous agencies with a similar agenda banded together in the wake of those cataclysmic events to assess our situation and prepare for the worst. Now we operate under a single umbrella. We are a private network for two reasons. First, our existence and operational abilities are protected by our secrecy. The less our opposition knows about us, the more effectively we can counter them. Similarly, certain authorities might be hostile to an organization such as ours operating in their claimed territory. Though some may be aware of our existence, we bypass numerous legal and jurisdictional hurdles that might otherwise hamper our actions and goals. Second, our mission sometimes brings to light information that is not only dangerous in the wrong hands, but might even trigger widespread panic if made public. In some cases, the very existence of such knowledge could be problematic. By retaining secrecy and operating on a need-to-know basis, we automatically counter certain risks. Firewall is a decentralized, peer-to-peer network. We have minimal hierarchy and we answer to no one but ourselves. Our node structure enables us to share resources and talents without sacrificing the privacy and security of our operatives. You have been recruited because of your knowledge, assets or skills, and/or because you have come into contact with certain restricted data. You have proven your willingness to support our goals. Our lives and existence — and the future of transhumanity — may rest in your hands. So here’s to the future — may we all live to see it. Category:Setting Category:Core Book